"Music teachers have it tough. Hours are long, pay isn’t great, and many live with the knowledge that their jobs could be eliminated in the next round of funding cuts. Surely a significant number occasionally ask themselves: Why am I doing this anyway? Am I really having any long-term effect on these kids, and on my community?

"Well, it turns out that they are. New research suggests they are creating arts aficionados, and cultivating the next generation of patrons and performers.

"'If one aim of music education, as many music educators report, is to engender a lifelong connection with the arts,' writes Kenneth Elpus of the University of Maryland, “the results of this study suggest that music — and arts education more broadly — is achieving this aim for many alumni.'"